Shady Trails, Serving the Next Generation

compiled by Judy Kuster

Many former Shady Trails campers recall with fondness and nostalgia the
summers they spent during the years from 1931-1995, that The University
of Michigan sponsored special summer programs there for children with
speech, language, and hearing disabilities. For those who are curious
about what has happened to the Camp since it was sold, the following
information provides an interesting update.

August 9, 1996 Home Improvement site reports the purchase of Shady
Trails by Tim Allen, comedian and Home Improvement host for an
estimated 2 million dollars.

"The "Home Improvement" star is buying the former Shady Trails
camp on Lake Michigan for $2 million. The camp includes 29 buildings on
26 acres. . . . . Allen and his wife, Laura, already have a cottage on
a cherry farm owned by her parents some 25 miles away, in Omena Point.
So, why invest in real estate? Allen's mother-in-law . . . apparently
whispered in his ear. She is a director of the Leelanau Conservancy, a
nonprofit group working against development of the area."
The following year, in 1997, the Shady Trails Camp began a new
and important service to children and families. . . . Reported in the
Traverse City Record
Eagle Shady Trials worked with the Munson Hospice program to
sponsor a weekend camp experience, entitled "Regaining Your Ground,"
for bereaved children involved in Munson Hospice's art therapy groups.
More than 20 children from 4 to 16 attended.

Then in 1998, Shady
Trails Camp provided "camping experiences and environmental
education opportunities to area children" in a "summer day camp program
for children ages 8-14, with four weeks of hands-on studies of the
natural and human history of Leelanau County. We offer a full
recreation program including canoe and kayak instruction, and field
trips to lakes, swamps, dunes, a cherry farm and the Grand Traverse
lighthouse. Our craft workshop features tools for leather and stone
work as well as other natural materials. Shady Trails is privately
owned, and some thirty percent of campers are sponsored by outside
organizations."

On May 24, 2002, I received the following news from Northport about
the camp

Hello: I came across your web site and want you to know that
Shady Trails Camp is about to open its fifth season as a day camp for
kids grades 3 to 8. The owners wanted to maintain the camp as an
educational facility, and to preserve the grounds and buildings.
Paint, roofing and electrical/plumbing updates haven't changed the look
of the camp at all. Emphasis is on fun, nature and the Leelanau
environment. Campers still visit local beaches and cherry farms, where
they pick cherries they bake into pies.

The day camp format was chosen after careful study of local needs
and the realities of sleep-away camp requirements these days. Shady
Trails attracts a wide range of kids, including locals, summer folk,
grandchildren of new retirees, (these two groups include kids from
all over the US and other countries) the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa
and Chippewa, Hispanic migrant children, children with various
disabilities, and others.

Many of you will be pleased to know that the children and
grandchildren of some of the camp staff you remember are now attending
Shady Trails. Local residents are delighted that the camp is running,
and their stories of the old days are much enjoyed.

Activities include the usual range of games and sports for fun, plus
canoeing and kayaking, art, dance and performance, crafts
(petoskey stones ad more!) and field trips to swamps, rivers, beaches,
orchards, etc. Visitors include wildlife rescuers with hawks and owls,
a teacher of local Native American culture, and many Shady Trails
campers. The Shady Trails campers from the old days who visit always
express their pleasure to see that things look the same, the lodge and
the shore are as beautiful as ever, and the kids as happy!

The cabins are used by campers as they form cabin groups, where they
assemble, rest, go for quiet time, and keep their things during
their weeks of day camp. Day camp includes very popular meals -- a huge
home-cooked lunch and two homemade snacks each day, produced in
that great kitchen and eaten on the very same china, at the same round
tables.

Munson Hospice has sponsored a special art therapy camp for
grieving families each summer, wherein Shady Trails works its magic and
children and families heal.

The counselors are local and out of town college and high school
students who have been returning year after year, plus an Irishman and
a Norwegian young lady. Many of them go to the University of Michigan,
but there have been a number of Michigan State students too.

The old logo sign was used for a couple of summers, but it had
deteriorated and one of the Shady Trails artists painted the new logo --
pine trees, the shoreline and Gull Island.

Camp is in session during July - early August. The address is 6880
Shady Trails Dr. Northport MI 49670 and the email is
strails@traverse.com

I hope that this news comforts you all. You all should know that all
of the memorabilia type items found in the buildings have been
preserved, along with notes and tokens left by former staff and campers
after the University closed the camp. In other words, the past of the
camp is cherished. -- AND its past has a very important place in local
lore.